Test strips (e.g., biosensors) containing reagents are often used in assays for determining the analyte concentration in a fluid sample. The quantitative determination of analytes in body fluids is of great importance in the diagnoses and maintenance of certain physiological abnormalities. For example, lactate, cholesterol, and bilirubin should be monitored in certain individuals. In particular, determining glucose in body fluids is important to diabetic individuals who must frequently check the glucose level in their body fluids to regulate the glucose intake in their diets. Each test requires that a new test sensor be used and, thus, cost of the individual test sensors is important to the users.
The material costs for an individual test strip (and the packing costs associated therewith) increase as the size of the individual test strips increase. Therefore, to minimize the cost of the test sensors, it is desirable to make the test strips as small as possible. However, as the size of the test sensors decreases, generally the difficulty in handling and manipulating the strip by a user increases. Additionally, the risk of contaminating a read-head on a meter increases as the size of the test strip decreases.
Therefore, it would be desirable to have a system and method that uses a diagnostic test strip and addresses these issues.